Breakfast for dinner!

If your family is anything like mine, you don't get to have a good "full" breakfast spread too often. Mornings are just too busy and when you do have the time to make a nice morning meal, you'd rather just use it to catch up on sleep instead.

Because of the lack of good yummy breakfasts, I thought it would be a fun idea to have breakfast for dinner every once in a while. It's a HIT! It might not be the best idea to get the kids fully loaded on syrup before bed time, but every once in a while doesn't hurt too bad.

Tonight was a breakfast for dinner night and I promised my boys that if they went to bed early enough, I'd make sure they could have dinner leftovers for breakfast before school. Needless to say, they're snoozing away dreaming of sweet syrup and fluffy scrambled eggs. LOL Oh how I love my food critic chubsters.

One of the ultimate faves in our house are chocolate chip pancakes. That probably doesn't come as a surprise since our house is known for being full of chocolate lovers. I thought I'd share that recipe here. Again, not the healthiest but all is well with a little moderation. ;-) Enjoy because we sure do!

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (you can just use more milk if you don't have buttermilk)
2 eggs
6 tablespoons oil
2 cups chocolate chips

Mix all of your "dry" ingredients before incorporating the "wet" with a wisk. Beat until combined then add chocolate chips. I usually cook them on the griddle using medium heat for a couple minutes on each side and then you're done!
My boys diggin' in. PJ's and Pancakes...that's the life!
Gotta complete the sweet with a little meat. ;-)
Our breakfast spread. French toast, Chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy.

Oh how lucky am I?!?!

I turned 29 this year. YES my very last year in my twenties. I'll admit it, I'm an old soul and I spent my birthday with my gma and Aunty Tala running little errands that they wanted. I actually enjoyed it. I also got to hang out with Nola, Ginger, Laura and Kris while doing some crazy girl things. LOL I had a blast.

I didn't get home until super late and felt really bad because I hadn't seen all of my siblings, hubby or kids all day. I had fun, but my birthday didn't feel complete without celebrating with everyone.

I felt even worse when I walked in to this.


My sweet sisters tried to wait for me to get home and surprise me but I got back so late that they just placed it on me bed. I can't imagine life without with big old loving family! I can't say how greatful I am for them because there aren't words to express that. Birthday 2011 was amazing and I can't wait to spend many more with those who I love dearly.

Mommy Tough Times

I just had one of the moments I dread. We've all heard the expression "spare the rod, spoil the child". But I like to make sure it's the absolute last resort and that we talk more than "bark". I'm not the disciplinarian with our kids. Well, not with the boys anyway. I'm forced to be hard on Luvie because she has her dad wrapped around her finger. But my boys are MY boys and their dad is usually the one who keeps them in line. Unfortunately for us all, they are starting to catch wind of the fact that when daddy is gone they get away with more. So I have to force myself to be harder on them just to keep them in line. That's especially hard because of Siua's graveyard shift.

Tonight was a tough night. It's the third day of school and my boys haven't really caught on to the whole "bed time" thing. It's after midnight and they're still up. Not just up but WIDE awake and playing. After several attempts at trying to get them to bed and major talking back I had to lay it down on them the hard way. I remember getting hard core discipline. My dad DID NOT play. But why am I so sad now? :-(

Time to get off of the sippy cup Luvie...FUN times!

If you have a baby and you haven't ever had the pleasure of weening a toddler off of a bottle or sippy cup, you're in for a treat! Mackenzie enjoyed her passie and really liked her bottle but she LOVES her sippy cup. Imagine how much fun it was to start the process of getting her off of it for good this weekend. That task, along with a SUPER uncomfortable stomach bug for me made for an extra "fun" few days for the both of us.

I could go on and on about Luvies first day without her "baba", but I think this video just about sums it up. I can't tell you how excited I am about having day one under the belt. Now I just have to get all of the other days out of the way (withgout giving in to her cries) and then it's on to getting her out of that diaper she's grown too comfy with! Oh the joys of motherhood! Gotta love it. ;-)

Summer Time!!!

It's been a long time since I got to have a real summer break and this year summer is off to a great (suppper busy, but still great) start. I love having my boys at home during the day and we've managed to squeeze in a few fun activities here and there. Next week we're off to girls camp and they don't have a clue! I can't tell them ahead of time because then I'll be dealing with a million questions until we leave. LOL It's been YEARS since I've been to girls camp and while I'm not the outdoorsy type I'm still excited to do something fun.

Tons of things have happened over the past couple of weeks and unfortunately I haven't been taking as many pictures as I would have liked. Joshua lost his very first tooth just last week. He's a late bloomer but he was so STOKED about it and woke up in the middle of the night checking for the toothfairy before crying REAL tears when he thought he lost the tooth under his pillow. LOL Oh how FUN is life when you're 6?

Papa is getting more and more excited about getting baptized soon. He is constantly reminding me that he's turning 8 this year. His vocabulary is a bit much for my liking at his age. LOL That kid and talking back! Gotta love the fact that he's vocal and opinionated though. Wonder where he gets that from? ;-)

My Luvie is really starting to speak full sentences and her baby talk is something I know I'll miss one day. Every once in a while I ask her what her name is because I love the way she responds with "Tenzie" instead of "Kenzie". My baby is a little bossy one too!

Here are a few summer snapshots from June '11. There are going to be TONS of more fun things to come! Stay cool everyone!!!!

Fathers day cards for her FAVE such a Daddies girl.
Joshy being a good big brother and pushing Luvie
Homemade playdough and cookie cutters=hours of fun!
My Papaman posing with his playdough creation.
Luvie getting her face painted at Carmine's circus bash
Papa after the jello eating contest.
Joshy smiling after a freshly pulled tooth.
All you need is the sun and a hose. LOL
Sugar cookie decorating. It's not Christmas regardless of what color the sprinkles are. LOL
Visiting Gpa on Fathers day.

Kids!

Isn't it funny how kids get into the most random things? You leave them alone for 2 minutes and they manage to do more than you think they're capable of.

This isn't the first time Luvie got her hands into the tub of gel and I'm sure it won't be the last. Kids! Gotta love em.

I'm lovin' it!

I'm officially a stay at home mom and believe it or not...I'm LOVIN' it! I really enjoy the extra time I have with my kids and hubby. We've been able to do things that I didn't have the time to do before and I'm so happy that these special moments will make amazing memories for my babies.

One of the first things that I was able to do was chaperon a field trip with my Joshy's class. We went to the Academy of Science which was perfect because I absolutely LOVE museums and nerdy stuff like that. :-)

My baby so was excited that I was going to attend and after a minor snafu (his teacher Ms. Salomeh mixed up dates and we got all ready for the field trip arriving at school early Tuesday morning only to find out that the field trip was actually on Thursday) we were on our way. There were 21 kids total and I got to meet all of my Joshy's 1st grade buddies.

After a 30 minute bus ride were there and ready to have fun! I felt like I was more excited than the students. There were so many amazing exhibits and interactive displays.

Here is Joshy's whole class in front of the Academy of Science
He and his "cousins" you know all Tongans are family at school. :-)
Joshy was amazed while we went through all three layers of the ocean in the underwater exhibit. Here is the tour guide giving us a quick explanation before we took our "dive" underwater.
The group on the "bottom layer" of the ocean.
They got to touch real living starfish.
My Joshy posing with the big old fish.
After our quick "dive" we made the trek up into the rain forest. It was hot and muggy just like the real thing. The bottom layer had all the plant life and as you traveled up you got to see how the different animals live and survive. The top was my favorite as you walked around gorgeous jumbo butterflies were everywhere. It was so pretty.

Here is Ms. Salomeh and the class making their way up.
Here am I with Joshy. I had to pull my mommy card and take at least one picture with him there. This is just before the butterflies.
Joshua in the rain forest
After the "rain forest" the kids started to say they were hungry so we made our way outdoors so that they could have lunch. Once all of the kids ate, Ms. Salomeh played a few games to tire them out. It was so cute to see Joshua interact with his classmates.
Game Time!
The last exhibit we went to was Joshua's favorite. It was the reptile exhibit and he was so excited to see the snakes and lizards up close. I'm a typical girly girl, I coulda done without the creepy crawlers but watching his face was priceless and I'd do it all over again just for him. :-)

Joshua with a big old fat python. He was amazed at how big it was!
An albino lizard. The tongue on this thing was crazy long!
Of course in all of the amazing wildlife and the cool interactive exhibits, Joshy and his friends would find the closest thing to a video game.